Building on the bachelor’s degree program, the master’s degree program imparts the in-depth knowledge in the various key areas of mechanical engineering that is crucial for a professional career. This enables our students to perform complex engineering activities independently and responsibly.

The Master of Science degree is qualitatively comparable to the Diplom-Ingenieur degree, which is still recognized and highly respected worldwide today. The Master’s program thus leads to a professional qualification that is necessary for a position with management responsibility and in the development of new solutions and products.

The regular period of study up to the Master’s degree at our faculty is five years (7 semesters Bachelor’s, 3 semesters Master’s).

Access requirements

1. Qualified degree

Applicants can be accepted for the master’s program if they have a qualified degree in a bachelor’s program in mechanical engineering or in a comparable program at a scientific university after at least 6 semesters of study (three years of study, 180 ECTS), which includes a significant portion of mechanical engineering coursework.

A degree is considered qualified if the applicant belongs to the top 35% of a graduation period of at least one year or has completed the Bachelor’s program with an overall grade of good or very good.

Here you can find the ECTS grades table, here the grades of the final grades in the bachelor’s program in mechanical engineering for the reference period 1.10.2017 – 30.09.2020 are summarized.

The comparability of the degree is determined by the examination board. The examination board decides on exceptions upon justified application.

2. Method and research oriented contents

A further admission requirement is proof of method- and research-oriented content with a minimum of 110 LP from the areas of “Mathematical/Scientific Fundamentals and Engineering Fundamentals” named in the current study plan. The examination board can determine supplementary study and examination achievements as well as the period for their completion. A provisional admission is granted for the period of performance.

Registration for Master’s examinations and the Master’s thesis is only permitted after the second semester with fully passed requirements. If the requirements are not passed at the end of the third semester, the admission is withdrawn. This means that the master’s program in mechanical engineering at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum can no longer be continued.

3. Standard period of study

Graduates of 6-semester degree programs must in any case complete supplementary study and examination assignments of at least 30 credit points. The examination board decides on exceptions upon justified application.

Students who have passed a master’s degree program in mechanical engineering or a related program at a scientific university or who have definitively failed a bachelor’s, master’s, preliminary diploma or diploma examination in mechanical engineering or a related field at a university or who have had their admission withdrawn in accordance with Paragraph 2 cannot be admitted to the master’s program.

Admission is only possible and permissible for one Master’s program of the faculty. Should an enrollment be made e.g. by fraud in more than one Master’s program of the faculty, this will be evaluated as serious fraud, which would result in de-registration from all Master’s programs of the faculty immediately after becoming known.

Application

An application to the Master’s program is only possible with a fully completed degree program, i.e. proof (certificate or transcript of records with overall grade and ECTS classification, if available) must be provided for a six-semester standard period of study of 180 credit points or for a seven-semester standard period of study with 210 credit points achieved.

The application is carried out via the online application portal of the Ruhr-University Bochum

Deadlines for applying are:

A) You have a Bachelor’s degree from a German university, a university from an EU country or other EU-related requirements (e.g. spouse comes from Germany):

• 20.11. for the winter semester
• 20.05. for the summer semester

B) You have a Bachelor’s degree from a university from a non-EU country:

• 15.07. for the winter semester
• 15.01. for the summer semester

Please remember that these deadlines are absolute cut-off periods, i.e. you should allow for a buffer in your planning for unforeseen events if possible in order to avoid waiting times due to missing a deadline. You can find more information about the deadlines here.

Approval and obligations

You will receive the admission or, if applicable, rejection electronically via the application portal of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. You will be informed of any obligations with the admission.

Mandatory counseling interview

The “Mandatory Counseling Interview” required for enrollment will be sent to you by e-mail as a presentation approximately one to two weeks after admission and simultaneously confirmed in the application portal as “attended”. Should you require further advice beyond the presentation, please contact the Mechanical Engineering Student Advisory Service.

Enrollment

You will receive all information regarding enrollment with your admission letter. Foreign applicants must prove German language skills in any case, unless they choose the specialization “Sustainable Energy Systems and Circular Process Engineering”.

More info you find here.

Please also inform yourself on the pages of the International Office of the RUB.